SHEEP RIDDLE SOLVED

Wild Soay sheep are getting smaller due to global warming, say the scientists.

The milder winters are allowing more smaller sheep to survive than in the past.

The team from Imperial College London studied the sheep on Hirta, an uninhabited Atlantic island, north-west of the Outer Hebrides. And they found that they have become about five per cent smaller in the past 24 years.

Lead researcher Professor Tim Coulson said: “In the past, only the big, healthy sheep and large lambs that had piled on weight in their first summer could survive the harsh winters on Hirta.

“But now, due to climate change, grass for food is available for more months of the year, and survival conditions are not so challenging. Even the slower growing ones have a chance.”